Lue Kelley, a clerk at a Hostess outlet on Geyer Springs Road, said employees were told on a conference call that the stores would all be closing. Hostess also has a location on MacArthur Drive in North Little Rock.

The locations will stay open Friday and Saturday but could shut their doors for good as early as Sunday.

"It's going to really hurt a lot of people around here," Kelley said, noting she and two others will lose their jobs while customers will lose out on cheaper prices. "Everything is a lot cheaper here than in the grocery store."

A steady stream of customers shopped Friday morning, expressing disappointment over the news.

Nannette Gordon, of Little Rock, hadn't heard about the closing when she showed up at the Little Rock outlet store just as it opened Friday.

"Oh no, no more Hostess?" she said after learning of the company's plans. "I grew up with it. All of my life, really.'

Mike Bryant, a driver for a painting and remodeling company, bought a few boxes of Hostess snack cakes for his coworkers after hearing Hostess was closing.

He said he expects there won't be a Twinkie shortage for long, however.

"I think somebody else will buy it and it will continue. The brands are just too popular."

There are good things about unions. Sometimes they make bad decisions, just like the corporations for which they work. How about let's avoid the polarized comments, the "good guy bad guy" routine, and examine the issue and the dynamics of this particular situation in proper detail?

If only the company could have held out for a few more weeks when Texas would have declared independence from the US and all it's taxes and regulations (and unions) then they could have been free to offer jobs at the minimum wage (oops no wage laws to interfere either..or pensions, or social security, health laws, courts, etc...)